Key Points:
- John Malone and Rupert Murdoch held merger talks in 2024 over combining Warner Bros Discovery and Fox, but CNN and Fox News proved irreconcilable.
- A combined company would have paired WBD’s studios and premium cable channels with Fox’s broadcast network, cable channel and U.S. sports rights.
- Malone continues to back the spin-off of WBD cable networks and film properties, and predicts more media consolidation as legacy firms compete with tech giants for sports.
Last summer, two of the most influential figures in modern media — Liberty Global’s John Malone and Fox Corporation founder Rupert Murdoch — held private discussions about combining Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) with Fox Corporation, a move that could have reshaped the global media landscape, according to a report published this weekend.
The discussions were revealed in a lengthy profile published by the Financial Times after they secured an interview with Malone earlier this year. Malone is currently on a press engagement tour in order to promote his new memoir, “Born to Be Wired,” written with his “Cable Cowboy” biographer Mark Robichaux.
Malone said the deal made sense, but ultimately didn’t come to pass because both sides could not figure out how to pair cable news channels Fox News and CNN together. CNN, founded by Ted Turner in the 1980s, is now owned by Warner Bros Discovery; Murdoch launched Fox News as an alternative to CNN in the 1990s, presenting news through a right-of-center lens and growing it into the highest-rated cable news channel in America.
Discussions about merging Fox with WBD occurred last year at the annual Sun Valley conference, during which Malone and Murdoch engaged with WBD CEO David Zaslav and News Corp Chairman Lachlan Murdoch on the matter.
“The deal probably would have happened if we thought that Fox News and CNN could live under one umbrella,” Malone said.
Still, Malone said the broader strategic logic of the deal made sense. A merger would have paired Warner’s studio assets and premium cable channels with Fox’s broadcast network and expansive U.S. sports portfolio. “A deal would potentially give Warner’s U.S. sports position a huge strengthening,” Malone said, pointing to the value of Fox Broadcasting separate from its news division.
Malone’s interest reflects his enduring reputation for dealmaking. Over more than five decades, the 84-year-old helped shape cable television through TCI, sold to AT&T for $48 billion in 1999 (which later merged the cable TV business with Comcast), and today oversees holdings in WBD, Formula 1 and Live Nation through Liberty Media. He described his lifelong “urge to merge” as intact, even as he prepares to donate most of his $10 billion fortune to philanthropic causes.
In recent months, Malone has supported a proposed split of Warner Bros Discovery into two companies — one focused on Warner Bros film, TV and streaming assets, and another on Discovery’s cable networks — after shareholder value eroded by about $30 billion since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery two years ago.
He also forecast a new wave of media consolidation as legacy players look for scale to compete with big technology firms that increasingly dominate sports rights. He pointed to possible combinations involving Disney, Paramount or NBC Universal with Warner as examples of what could follow.
Fox is a notoriously nimble company: Nearly a decade ago, Fox spun out and sold off a number of its legacy assets, including its movie studio, film catalog and entertainment-focused cable networks, in order to reposition the company as a domestic leader in news and sports. It later acquired free streaming service Tubi and relaunched it into a platform that complements its flagship broadcast network. Fox and WBD have licensing agreements involving content and streaming channels for Tubi.
